Gripper attachment for platen printing-presses.



No. 793,730. PATENTED JULY 4, 1905. E. L MEGILL.

GRIPPER ATTACHMENT FOR PLATEN PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED 0011,1904.

WITNESSES:

Patented July 4, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD MEGILL, OF NEW YORK, N.

GRIPPER ATTACHMENT FOR PLATEN PRlNTlNG-PRESSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0 793,730, dated July 4,1905.

Application filed October 1, 1904. Serial No. 226,844.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. MEGILL, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings andcity and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Gripper Attachments for Platen Printing-Presses, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the sheet-gripping device of the platenprinting-press, and more specifically to apparatus applicable to theordinary grippers.

My invention consists, first, in providing gripper attachments with asocket having a depended leaf-clamp with a bias edge by which it isreadily passed over and adapted to the various thicknesses ofpress-grippers, also in providing a gripper-finger with branches thatextend in opposite directions parallel to the gripper and which providea space between said branches and gripper for the solid upright portionof a side gage to stand when the sheetis receiving the impression andthe gripper and finger are pressed down.

It also consists in providing gripper-fingers with an intermediatecross-section by which a complete crossing of the space between the twogrippers is adjustably effected without extending outside the boundariesof said grippers and the said cross-section being economicallyinterchangeablefor others of greater or less length for different sizesof presses.

I will now proceed to describe my invention, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a plan View, on a small scale, of the platen of aprinting-press and its grippers with my invention applied. Fig. 2 is atransverse sectional view of my invention, taken on the line 00 w ofFig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 3 is a plan view ofa fraction of my invention, showing the end of the press-gripper startedinto one of the sockets. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken online 00 a, Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrow.

In the drawings, A represents the platen, B B the press-grippers, and Gthe gripperrocking shaft; D D, the bottom gages, E the side gage, and Fthe sheet to be printed.

The part of my invention which attaches to the gripper is thegripper-finger 1, which is constructed of sheet metal and folded over atone end upon itself, so as to form an angular oblong socket 2, whoseopeningis large enough to take in the largest gripper. Through thenarrow'outer wall of the socket is a set-screw 3, which bears againstthe edge of the gripper and makes up the difference in the widths. Tocompensate for the variation in the thickness of press-grippers, aportion of the outer broad wall of the socket is depended inwardly,forming leaf-clamps 4L 4, preferably in the form and position shown. Theedge or edges of these leaf-clamps are oblique or bias and allow theblunt end of the press-gripper to pass through unchecked. Extending fromthe socket 2 is the part of the gripper-finger 1 which reaches inwardlyupon the sheet to be printed. In the fingers shown secured to the upperends of the grippers in Fig. 1 the edges of the metal are folded over,as at 1, so as to form a groove for the entrance of the intermediate baror cross-section 5, which enters a similar gripper-finger on theopposite gripper and which together efiect a complete crossing of thespace between the grippers wherever set. The groove may be formed on theintermediate section instead of on the fingers.

The gripper-finger 1, shown located halfway down one of the grippers,Fig. 1, is divided into two branches 1"1", one branch extending downwardand the other upward a short space away from and parallel to thepress-gripper. This gripper-finger covers the margin along the gage endof the sheet and allows the side gage E to be set between the branchesand the gripper at any desirable point without danger of being smashed.

By the above arrangement the sheet F is covered on one margin by thepress-gripper, on another by the cross-bar, on another by the branches 11*, and the other by the overhanging of the bottom gages D D, thuscovering the four margins of the sheet.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim 1. A platen-press grippercross-bar comprising two gripper-fingers oppositely attachable to thepress-grippers and extending inwardly and an intermediate cross-sectionslidably connected therewith, substantially as described.

2. A platen-press gripper-finger comprising a portion projecting fromthe press-gripper, a socket for attaching same to the pressgripper, saidsocket having a leaf-clamp depended from the outer broad wall and havingits edge bias to the body of the socket substantially as described.

3. A platen-press gripper-finger, comprising a portion arranged to beattached to the press-gripper and another portion extending inwardlytherefrom, said latter portion having branches extending in oppositedirections and parallel to the press-gripper, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

EDWARD L. MEGILL. Witnesses:

ALFRED L. MEGILL, J. WHITE.

